Tracing and troubling continuities between ableism and colonialism in Canada

Abstract

This article draws on work in Critical Disability Studies (CDS) to trace continuities between ableism and colonialism in Canada, and illuminates three ways in which ableist violences have historically functioned, and still function, as colonial tools. These violences include: subtle and obvious pathologizing of indigenous bodies rooted in a logic of purification/elimination of defects; tropes of ‘inspirational disability’ which have ongoing material, colonial effects, including the exaltation of white settler Canada; and eugenic institutions – a naturalized part of our national context – which subjugate indigenous ways of life while creating and reproducing white settler space. We challenge CDS scholars – especially those who, like ourselves, enjoy white and settler privilege – to call attention to the colonial effects of eugenic, ableist assumptions and to remain accountable to the colonial impulses inherent in their/our work. We conclude by charting possibilities of what decolonizing in CDS might mean.

Keywords:

• Ableism
• colonialism
• indigeneity
• Critical Disability Studies

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.